The Back Room

Scaled Composites is in the California desert. This has hardly been a secret. They announced their plans right after SpaceShipOne captured the X-Prize for a private reusable ship reaching space. Another billionaire, Paul Allen, funded that one. You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

Hah! yes - lurking occasionally, but the new job has a "no using them there internet newsgroup thingummy's because we done heard lotsa bad things about 'em" rule. however I have got to the point where I wouldn't really give a shit if they sacked me! ___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

Ian Shlasko wrote: but if that's true, then I guess they'll be reforming the reform in ten years. :sigh: I thought this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do I have to go through it again?:~ Opacity, the new Transparency.

Christian Graus wrote: Why is it that you believe, verbatim, anything you're disposed to agree with, and reject, outright, common sense and logic ? Who needs common sense and logic in the age of the Internet? Steve

Christian Graus wrote: The government does not create inflation. Even if it did, the concept of any minimum wage is meant to be a form of protection for low skilled workers from being exploited. That it's not being enforced to do that in the US is a failure of unfettered capitalism, not socialism. It's a total absence of socialism that is creating this problem. The government can create inflation, or kill jobs. A company produces widget, and sells them for 100 dinar. 55 cover fixed costs. 20 cover materials/production overhead 20 cover labor, which is being minimum wage. 5 is profit. The factory runs at about 80% capacity. It produces 100 widgets per day, and It invested in smart machines, and can use unskilled labor. The widget demand is fairly inelastic. People spend an average of 20% of their income on widgets. Case 1, create inflation. The government comes in and doubles the minimum wage. The manufacturer has to raise the price of widgets by 10%. Now everyone spends an average of 22% of their income to get the same good. (Widgets, being such an important part of the economy, are part of the CPI.) Raising the cost of widgets has reduced income for everyone above the new MW by 2%. This has caused 2% inflation. Case 2, cost jobs Foreign widget producers use stupid machines and semiskilled labor being paid less than our MW. Most in-country widget manufacturers use smart machines, or have been driven out of business. The local widget cost about the same as foreign widgets, since the smart machines drive down labor costs. The foreign producers will not be forced to raise their labor costs. Raise price 10% and most people will buy foreign. There is still 20% capacity remaining. Using it does not increase fixed costs, only labor & material/production overhead. I could hire more people and work the plant at 100%, my output would go up to 125. There is no maintenance time built into that, which is an issue. Costs would be 55 + 1.25*(60) = 130/1.25 = 104 dinar, before profits. What is the factory owner supposed to do? He is in it for a profit, so why would he want to continue his business at a loss? He dumps his workers and attempts to sell the machines over-seas, at a loss, since it would not be financially viable for anyone else here to buy them and produce widgets. A restaurant that has to cut waitrons by 50% will end up delivering worse service. A guys runs a shop and has one employee to run the shop while he is

Ian Shlasko wrote: But then, how would you stop? I mean, if you can cross any distance in an instant, then theoretically, as soon as you attained light speed, the universe would end (If there is an end). An infinite amount of time would pass outside the ship just in the time it takes you to think, "Hey, I'm going at the speed of light!" Well, you can't actually accelerate to c, so you never get stuck in that situation. The other side of it is that you have to plan for it. You accelerate towards the target for a period of time, then you know you have to decelerate for that same amount of time in your changing frame of reference. This assumes your acceleration rate/deceleration rate are the same, which may not be true if you are burning fuel. Opacity, the new Transparency.

Oh, no! The sky is falling, the sky is falling! So the richest nation on earth is attempting to improve its healh case system, which is amongst the worst when compared to other wealthy countries - get some perspective. Steve

Go post something random in the lounge so I can give you a 5.

Too true... It's depressing, really... Knowing that there are thousands and thousands of people right around you, but they're all strangers. Being alone in a crowd is worse than being alone by yourself. I grew up in the suburbs, where it wasn't a "small town" by any stretch, but where you'd often run into people you know just by coincidence... Doesn't happen much in Manhattan. At least not for me. Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

Bob Emmett wrote: I find Gillian and Captain SeeVee amusing. I would be sorry to see either moderated away. But you are the moderator, so what you say goes. Well, no. My desire is not to moderate anyone 'away', but to prompt them to contribute to this forum, rather than just dumping copy/paste text here and abusing anyone who tries to discuss it. And, more to the point, the role of moderator doesn't mean I get to decide what is acceptable, it means I'm supposed to reflect the values of the community. It's my opinion that the community wants people to contribute to this forum and not just use it as a dumping ground for other people's opinions, am I wrong ? Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

Yes, it is clear to me that us paying him attention is the closest thing to friendship he's ever known. That's why he exploded and said this was HIS forum. He really thinks it is. It does revolve around him to the degree that he hijacks conversations and presents the most extreme views, which then get the most extreme reaction. But, of course, he's not a moderator, nor is he even a respected member. He's a sad, strange little guy. Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

:laugh:

Christian Graus wrote: keep 'reminding' them how 'free' they are. But, they have guns, they must be free. :) Bob Emmett CSS: I don't intend to be a technical writing, I intend to be a software engineer.

josda1000 wrote: I hope you don't mind Christian but you'll have to wait for me to respond to the two posts, I have been more than busy for the last two weeks... I'll respond later tonight (about 10 hrs from now) No problem. You may want to hit the 'email' button and move this to email, for two reasons: 1 - I don't get email notifications, so as this thread gets older, I may forget to look at it 2 - It looks like it's just the two of us now, anyhow. Which means you need an address to email to. Obviously, there are reasons I don't want to make that public, how about I hit the email button to mail you, do you check that account ? Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

Didn't he poke a finger into a dyke? Okay, I'll stop now. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]

Is the pope a catholic? Do bears shit in the woods? Do bees bee? Yes, he's somthing you wipe off your shoe but he is plainly mentally deficient (probably the drugs he says he takes) so perhaps he deserves our pity, not our ire. me, me, me "The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!" Larry Niven

Yeah I had noticed, he seems to be particularly obtuse since his 'truthbox' has had no others join up (fell on its arse). Usually I just shake my head and go onto something else, but there are times...

CaptainSeeSharp wrote: Look like in your country the government spends almost 40% of it's GDP with a debt of over 50% GDP with inflation of over 5.5%. Looks as if your government spends over 40% of its GDP, with a debt of just over 10% (sorry, forgot the 'off balance sheet' items) just over 500% of GDP. Not much inflation - 2.14%, but you frequently tell us that hyperinflation is imminent, so I guess that will be a tad more than 5.5%? CaptainSeeSharp wrote: I'm talking about why your system is a complete failure. :rolleyes: Bob Emmett CSS: I don't intend to be a technical writing, I intend to be a software engineer.

I think the order was a major fluke. For Tasmania, at the bottom of this page. The nomination process[^] There is more detail on the AEC site for federal elections. Draw for Positions on the Ballot Paper[^]

Gonzoox wrote: So when it finally arrived I was already doing my 3rd payment of the car, second payment of the insurance!!! so no, if that's how the DMV is going to work health I rather fly back to my country :P Wait till you have to deal with our health insurance. It's actually worse.